Shh… We’ve launched…
TL;DR – Our website is finally live, so in addition to searching and booking tours using Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, you can now use this website (with the addition of being able to chat with Tee 24×7, our AI Assistant who can give you live availability). Just click on the bottom right. She’s multilingual too…
How it all began...
Hi, my name is Vic, the founder of Turers. If you know me and my wife Leonie, you’ll know of our love for travelling and living in different parts of Australia. It’s how the idea for Turers came about on this exact day I’m writing this first blog entry, the day before Australia Day, five years ago.
We were just over two years into travelling (and working) around Australia in our 2010 Prado 150 series four wheel drive and Vista RV off road van. We’d spent most of that time in WA, mainly the south west around Albany when we drove back to Adelaide at Christmas to visit family only to find the hills ablaze from the Cudlee Creek fires. Having family in and around Gumeracha, and staying there, we were in the thick of it. It was a terrible sight to see and a horrific time for too many families, pets, farm animals and everyone affected.
We were going to head back to Porongurup, WA as we had a house sit there for a few weeks but couldn’t get back as the SA/WA border was closed due to fires on the Nullarbor. We were on one of our daily walks around Gumeracha pondering our next move. It was January 25th. We’d heard murmurs of a flu in China and how it was spreading, but really didn’t think much more about it. I’d been developing chatbots for tour operators using Facebook Messenger. I wondered, if we can do this for one tour operator, why not thousands? I can develop a Messenger chatbot that people can use to find and book from thousands of tours. It sounded great in theory. There have been one or two obstacles along the way, a ton of programming, sleepless nights, no power, no internet, wind, rain, heat, cold, two blown Prado diesel engines, lack of cashflow, sweat, tears, the list goes on. However, persistence and self belief is almighty.
The name, well it wasn’t Turers to start with, but that’s another story for another time. We liked Turers, it’s short and a play on Tourers. When googling what the letters could stand for, this sounded about right:
- T is for treasure, that of your friendship.
- U is for useful, always to others.
- R is for rapport, friends seek you.
- E is for easy going, no ruffles here.
- R is for rely, everyone’s trustworthy friend.
- S is for serious, not always joking.
Googling the name also revealed Swedish tur was borrowed from French tour, used in Sweden since 1639 in the sense of a journey, since 1679 in the sense of a sequence of events (to take turns), since 1809 in the sense of luck (events that luckily go your way).
To top it off, there’s a Latvian connection.
tur in Latvian means there, so a close enough analogy for going there and doing a tour. Both my parents emigrated from Latvia after WWII so this resonated with me.
The .com domain was available, it was short and Turers was born.
So what is Turers?
Turers is an online tour agency allowing you to search and book from thousands of tours from passionate tour operators all over Australia. Our mission is to make it easy for you to find and book tours from operators who love what they do and strive to put together memorable experiences for you.
You can search using this website or via chat using Facebook Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp.
Scroll to the footer and click on fb (Facebook Messenger), ig (Instagram) or wa (WhatsApp) and you can scan the QR code or click to chat with Tee, our AI travel assistant 24×7. Ask a question like “Do you have bike tours in Melbourne” or “is this tour available on the 15th March” or whatever you like (please be nice though!). Tee is also multilingual so you can converse in your native language. We’re still fine tuning this so if you type a word or phrase and another language comes back. Just ask her to translate that to english (or whatever you want).
With Messenger, we’ve added a special feature…not going to say any more…you need to connect to Turers on Messenger and try it. Hint: wait 5 minutes after asking Tee something.
On this website, you can use the FILTER button to narrow your search by category, state, region, age group, interest etc.
I’d love to get your feedback and know if there are any other features you’d like. Click on the menu and leave feedback via the Contact Form, or ask Tee to leave a message.
I hope you find your ideal tour and support the great tour operators we have all around the country.
Cheers, Vic
Oh, and if you’re a tour operator or know one who uses Rezdy, one of the best tour booking systems for operators, we can connect to your tours, extending your reach and hopefully bring you more bookings. We can also put a chatbot like Tee on your website or your social media. Contact Align Systems, our tech arm for details.
